Dust guard



Juy 6 1926.

W. E. ETQN DUST GUARD Filed Feb. 12,

Patented' JulyA (i, A1926.

i uNiT-an STA-TESPATENT oFFica.

l WILLIAJI EATON, 0I? WAKEFIELD, MQSSACHUSETTB, ASSIGNOB' T0 CHATO COMPANY.

I nUsr GUARD. i'

Application led February 12, 1923. SeriaLNo. 618,49-2.

]The present invention relates to an ini'- y provement in' dust guards for cars.

The axle box of a railway car receives the projecting end of acar axle through a hole This hole is re in ythe rear"end of the box. quired to be"largerthan the'portion of the axle which enters the box in order to permit relative movements of the box and axle,-

and it has longbeen the practice to employ a dust guard surrounding the4 axle at the :hole to impede the entrance of dust and dirt into' the axle box.v

For this purpose the box is provided with a dust .guard recess open at the top of the box through which a Tooden dustguards have been extensively used, `the material being, such as to yield under excessive pressures of the a'xle against it and calculated to break in case of extraordinary distortion of the relation between the box 'and the axle. Ordinarily these `Wooden dust guards can be usedbut once. That is to say, when for any reason the box is removed from the car axle, a new dust guard is inserted before the box is replace not only because of the enlargement of the hole in the dust guard due to its wear against the axle, but also because vit is often found .to be broken, or is broken in process of removal. In some cases these- Wooden dust guards are covered with waste pieces of plush in order to make the guard fit the guard recess more closely for the purpose of holding the parts of the broken guard together to facilitate removal. Sometimes the wooden dust'guard is strengthened by staples or corrugated strips of metal at places where it is most likely to be broken. Q

It has been proposed touse animal hair felt for dust guards, but sucl dust guards, while they may. be made to fit the guard recess of the boxes with elastic pressure, are, owing to the very nature of the material, soon broken and are but infrequently capable of being used a second time. The principal objection to the felt dust guard, however, is the high cost of the guard.

It has been proposed'toreinforce "felt guards .with .canvas in order to give greater strength to the guard to reduce itsliabilit'yto breakage in Zuse, but such-reinforcementsf only enhance the expense to such a degree as to render .such guard economically unavailable for .use.-\,Su,ch animal`hair felt dust guard reinforced with canvas stit hed to it also provided with a metallic sp ing contrivnce for contributing tothe holding.

of the uard in position in the. guard recess in the o'x. This only further increases the cost of -the guard and renders it commercially unavailable.

`- The present invention contemplates a dust guard of which thebody portion isabsorb-j ent and therefore ca able' of conveying oil from the bottom of t e car box to .the entire linner surface of the hole in the guard and'A thereforeilexurally weak, 'but it is e astio and compressible so as'.l to ield-to'the lstrains exerted upon it in use'.-

support and strengthen the body portion. It is comparatively noncom ressible, as' the compressible .quality of t e dust guard is secured by they body portion and the reinforcing layersare required to have greater flexural strength to support such body portion. Both the body portion and the reinhis bodyiportion ist-provided with reinforcng'layers on both sides of flexurally strong stiff materialto4 forcing layers are formed of fibre-cellular paper-like material'which for the body portion is* soft, elastic and compressible, havi large voids adapting it to conduct the Eil by capillarity from the bottom of the box to the edges of the'axle holes. 'The voids of this material are smaller than the voids of animal hair felt and therefore they convey less oil from the bottom of the box tothe edges of the axle hole, 'and this is a virtue which contributesto the commercial value of the guard because it reduces the amount ofoil wastesubstantially, an item by no means to be overlookedvinI a device of this character. The reinforcing layers are hard and stiff, have very little capillary capacity to lift oil upward' from the bottom of the together by suitable fastening de'e'es; The

invention consists in the dust guard herein described vand particularly dened inthe 'Referring to the accompanying-.drawings illustrating the preferred form ofthe invention, Fig. 1, is a front elevation of the Y dust guard; F ig. 2. is a side elevation thereof; and Fig. 3\ is a section takenon the line a-a, 1.

The ust guard indicated in a' general way, by the reference character l has the ployed, so long as it is a fibre-cellular, paperis usual outline, and is provided with the usual axle hole in its center. The body portion of the dust `guard consistsof the layers 2 and 3 of paper-like felt. This felt may be made of 'cow hair,- paper pulp and cotton fibre, as described in 'the Clapp patent dated August 29, 1922, No. 1,427,263, which is a paper felt consisting of approximately 500 parts-cow hair, 550 parts paper pulp, and 150 parts cotton 'fibre It ,isimmaterial whether the body portion is formed of two layers 2 and I3, as shown in the drawings, or whether itconsists of .one layer. Other paper-like felts may' be emplo ed for the body portion, such as a pa er elt made of leatherV scraps, paper stoc and .hair laid up 4l'oosely andpluin ly to form an elasticabsorbent material. nothe-r material which may be used to lform the body portion of the guard is the ordinary soft'leatherboard of commerce, consisting of 8,0 percent leather and 20 .percent pa er stock: In fact, it is immaterial, lriewe in its broader aspects, what composition of body portion is emlike material, flexurally weak, absorbent, elastic and compressible. The reinforcing layers 4 and 5 are provided to afford structural'strength, as Well as to reduce the amount of oil shed by the body portion.

These reinforcing layers are applied to both l sides of the body portion, so that t e guard is interchangeable side to side. he preferred material of Whichthese reinforcing layers are made is a fibre-cellular paperlike substance such as ibreboard or relatively hard leatherboard, which is flexurally strong, non-absorbent and non-compressible. This material is durable, will stand great wear, will retain its strength under severe use, and afford adequate support to the body portion of the guard. It is preferred to use this .fibro-cellulai', paper-like material for the reinforcing. layers because it .has th'ose qualities which supplement the qualities of the body ortion so that/the two materials, combine in the mannerdescribed, produce a strong, properly absorbentguard, one which-will not wear or cut the axle, whichis capableof moving in the dust guard recess, and adapting itself to various relative ositions of the axle and box without brea age, and is therefore capable of repeated use. But of greatii'nportance in this connection is the low price at which these dust guards may be produced because of the cheapne'ss of these materials.-

The several layers are united by rivets .set at intervals suchthat they afford adequate means for uniting the several'layers into an integral guard. It will be observed that the rivets compress 'the body portion at the points where they are set, and that the body portion causes the side of, the guard to distend between the rivets. This provides a coinpressible thickening of'the guard, making it substantially thicker at the portions between the rivets than at the rivets, but of an'elastic thickness at Such inter-rivet places so that when the 'guard is' inserted in thevdust, guard recess, such expanded portions of the guard act yieldingly to hold the guard in place in the recess.

This guard commends itself'to the manufacturer by reason of its cheapnessand fa,- cility of construction. It commends itself to the railway'manby reason of its durability and efficiency of operation. This guard is more expensive than wood, and yet referred over wood because of its durability. It is preferred over animal hairvfelt guards because it does not Waste the oil nor cut the axle and because it is cheaper.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is A dust ard for axle boxes comprising a. body portion and reinforcing-layers on both sides thereofy coextensive and conterminous therewith, all of libro-cellular paper-like material, the body portion bein of flexurally weak, absorbent, flexible an compressible character, and the reinforcing layers of rela-A structure. l' I 1 WLLLIAME. EATON. 

